DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART
Drivers of cars, trucks, etc. are all subject to ice, snow, or frost accumulating on the windscreen and windows of their vehicle, whether it be at home, work, or any place where the vehicle is exposed to any kind of winter elements.
Heretofore a wide variety of scrapers have been proposed and implemented for scraping these winter elements off a vehicle's windscreen and windows.
One such tool consisted of a rigid two part handle--(U.S. Pat. No. 4538320-A to Batt 85.09.03). The first part has, at an end opening bounded by an end face, a second part embodying a blade. The second part is inserted into the opening in the first part. A mitt is positioned about the handle to cover the handgrip and to leave the beveled blade exposed. The opening of the mitt is sufficiently large to admit a gloved or ungloved hand grasping the handgrip. Users regard this type of tool unsatisfactory for scraping a vehicle's windscreen, because while a person is grasping the handle of this tool and attempts to scrape the center of the vehicle's windscreen, the amount of force that can be applied to the icy surface is only as great as the stength of one's wrist. Due to the fact that the length of the scraper is rather short, a long reach is needed to scrape the center of the windscreen of a vehicle, particularly a larger type vehicle such as pickup trucks or vans. While reaching, the arm cannot exert a sufficient amount of downward pressure to utilize the scraping ability of the tool. To achieve the scarping effect one must literally rub against the side of a usually dirty car, and even stretch over the hood of the vehicle to apply the needed pressure to clean the surface of the center of the windscreen. This is even moreso for female drivers as their arm and wrist strength tend to be less than that of an adult male. The mitt enclosing the handle of this scraper is next to useless as well. One would have to judge the intelligence of an individual who proceeds to the outdoors in the middle of winter with no gloves or the necessary apparel to begin with. Even if used as directed, the glove would provide very little warmth to the user's hand, gloved or ungloved, as it would be as cold as the temperature outside as these devices are almost always left in the vehicle while parked.
There are also many types of tools on the market today similar to the aforementioned without the mitt (U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,111 and 4,275,476 both to E. L. Hopkins). These tools are almost identical except for very subtle differences. They still, however, are inferior due to the reasons listed above.
Another type of tool, comprise a simple length of wood usually measuring about two (2) feet, with a brush at one end and a small plastic scraping edge on the opposite end. With this tool, users must use both hands to effectively scrape ice off the vehicle's windscreen. This causes the tool to be just as inferior as the aforementioned in that while using both hands to reach the center of a vehilce's windscreen, the same problems arise with respect to the extended reach and the inability to apply adequate pressure to the icy surface due to this extended reach. This principle also applies to (U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,206 to Brace and Chmielewski) and any other scraper which takes two hands to effectively use. Making a longer handle for reach does not solve any problems in that the user must use two hands to control the apparatus, thus limiting reach. Most users, therefore, would find it desirable to have a tool which could effectively scrape ice, frost, or snow off the center of vehicle windscreens and windows with very little physical reach involved, and a modicum amount of force needed to achieve the end result of a clean surface. This tool must also be easy to use on all the windows around the entire vehicle and be inexpensive to the consumer to purchase.